My Health
· 1
My
Health
Volume 10, Issue 3 2011
Serving Indiana Members
Could you have asthma?
Take action so you can breathe easier!
Do you or someone in your family:
•
Wheeze sometimes?
•
Feel chest tightness?
•
Have an early morning or
bedtime cough?
•
Seem out of breath when it’s
not expected?
Tese may be signs of asthma, a long-
term lung disease. If you have asthma,
you have it all of the time – even when
you do not have symptoms. If you learn
what to do and get help from your
primary medical provider (PMP) or
doctor, you can help make your asthma
attacks a thing of the past.
How to manage asthma
You can take control with three key steps:
1
Know what things make your
asthma worse and avoid those
triggers
. Triggers are different
for different people. Common
triggers include:
•
Smoke (including tobacco and
secondhand smoke)
•
Air pollution
•
Dust mites
•
Cockroaches and their droppings
•
Furry pets
•
Mold
2
See your PMP or doctor and take
prescribed drugs in the right way
at the right time
. Be sure you take
prescriptions exactly as your doctor
tells you to.
3
Create an action plan with your
PMP or doctor to control your
asthma
. Tis plan should be
reviewed when you see your PMP
to make sure it stays up-to-date.
Go to
www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/
public/lung/asthma/asthma_
actplan.pdf
for a sample action
plan. Look on the back page for a
list of possible asthma triggers and
ways to avoid them.
Take control of your asthma. You’ll
fnd you can breathe a little easier and
enjoy life!
How to get a paper
copy of notices
If you have any questions or if you would
like a paper copy of the current notices or
updates in any edition of our newsletter
or a hard copy of the Member Handbook,
call
1-866-408-6131
. If you have hearing
or speech loss, call the TTY line at
1-866-408-7188
.
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website:
CDC.gov; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
website: Asthma Action Plan (April 2007): www.nhlbi.nih
.gov/health/public/lung/asthma/asthma_actplan.pdf